The Abominable: A Novel

The year is 1924 and the race to summit the world's highest mountain has been brought to a terrified pause by the shocking disappearance of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine, high on the shoulder of Mt. Everest. By the following year, three climbers - a British poet and veteran of the Great War, a young French Chamonix guide, and an idealistic young American - find a way to take their shot at the top.

A Winter Haunting

A once-respected college professor and novelist, Dale Stewart has sabotaged his career and his marriage - and now darkness is closing in on him. In the last hours of Halloween, he has returned to the dying town of Elm Haven, his boyhood home, where he hopes to find peace in isolation.

Carrion Comfort

The Past...Caught behind the lines of Hitler’s Final Solution, Saul Laski is one of the multitudes destined to die in the notorious Chelmno extermination camp. Until he rises to meet his fate and finds himself face-to-face with an evil far older, and far greater, than the Nazis themselves...

Song of Kali

Blood will curdle in Calcutta. In the most crime-ridden city, nightmares become real and evil is defined by frightening occurrences. When an American family finds themselves encircled by the terrors of this land, lurid events befall them and life takes on a new meaning - death. Winner of the World Fantasy Award, Song of Kali will chill the blood and frighten even the most jaded of horror fans.

Summer of Night

It’s the summer of 1960 and in the small town of Elm Haven, Illinois, five twelve-year-old boys are forging the powerful bonds that a lifetime of change will not break. From sunset bike rides to shaded hiding places in the woods, the boys’ days are marked by all of the secrets and silences of an idyllic childhood. But amid the sun-drenched cornfields, their loyalty will be pitilessly tested.

The Elementals

After a bizarre and disturbing incident at the funeral of matriarch Marian Savage, the McCray and Savage families look forward to a restful and relaxing summer at Beldame, on Alabama's Gulf Coast, where three Victorian houses loom over the shimmering beach. Two of the houses are habitable, while the third is slowly and mysteriously being buried beneath an enormous dune of blindingly white sand. But though long uninhabited, the third house is not empty. Inside, something deadly lies in wait.

Children of the Night

In a desolate orphanage in what remains of post-Communist Romania, a desperately ill infant is given the wrong blood transfusion - and flourishes when he's supposed to die. The discovery of his unique immune system may hold the key to the long-awaited cure for cancer and AIDS - and a link to a clan of vampires.

Transmission: A Supernatural Thriller

College students Kenji and Dylan stumble upon a strange recording in the background of an obscure song. It's a woman's voice uttering a string of seemingly random characters. Upon further inspection, the song appears to have been embedded with a hidden message. Attempting to crack the mysterious code and becoming obsessed with the recording, Kenji and Dylan set off in search of answers. With every turn in the road however, the puzzle only seems to grow more complicated.

The Fifth Heart

In 1893 Sherlock Holmes and Henry James come to America together to solve the mystery of the 1885 death of Clover Adams, wife of the esteemed historian Henry Adams--a member of the Adams family that has given the United States two Presidents. Clover's suicide appears to be more than it at first seemed; the suspected foul play may involve matters of national importance.

Cold Moon over Babylon: Valancourt 20th Century Classics

Welcome to Babylon, a typical sleepy Alabama small town, where years earlier the Larkin family suffered a terrible tragedy. Now they are about to endure another: 14-year-old Margaret Larkin will be robbed of her innocence and her life by a killer who is beyond the reach of the law. But something strange is happening in Babylon: traffic lights flash an eerie blue, a ghostly hand slithers from the drain of a kitchen sink, graves erupt from the local cemetery in an implacable march of terror.

Flashback

The United States is near total collapse. But 87% of the population doesn't care: they're addicted to flashback, a drug that allows its users to re-experience the best moments of their lives. After ex-detective Nick Bottom's wife died in a car accident, he went under the flash to be with her; he's lost his job, his teenage son, and his livelihood as a result. Nick may be a lost soul, but he's still a good cop, so he is hired to investigate the murder of a top governmental advisor's son.

Darwin's Blade

Darwin Minor travels a dangerous road. A Vietnam veteran turned reluctant expert on interpreting the wreckage of fatal accidents, Darwin uses science and instinct to unravel the real causes of unnatural disasters. He is very, very good at his job.

The Narrows

The town of Stillwater has been dying - the long and painful death of a town ravaged by floods and haunted by the ghosts of all who had lived there. Yet this most recent flood has brought something with it - a creature that nests among the good folks of Stillwater...and feeds off them. The children who haven't disappeared whisper the same word - "vampire". But they're wrong. What has come to Stillwater is something much more horrific.

Breeds, Book 1

In a near-deserted coastal village, odd things are happening. Strangers are asking questions about the town's recluse. A local hunter discovers naked footprints in the snow. The stray dog population has ceased to exist. And with winter's most powerful weapon bearing down, things are about to become much, much worse. A werewolf book. Not a romance. Not at all.

Hex

Welcome to Black Spring, the seemingly picturesque Hudson Valley town haunted by the Black Rock Witch, a 17th-century woman whose eyes and mouth are sewn shut. Muzzled, she walks the streets and enters homes at will. She stands next to children's beds for nights on end. Everybody knows that her eyes may never be opened, or the consequences will be too terrible to bear.

The Books of Blood, Volume 1

Weaving tales of the everyday world transformed into an unrecognizable place, where reason no longer exists and logic ceases to explain the workings of the universe, Clive Barker provides the stuff of nightmares in packages too tantalizing to resist. This first volume contains the short stories : "The Book of Blood," "The Midnight Meat Train," "The Yattering and Jack," "Sex, Death, and Starshine," and "In the Hills, the Cities,"

Ghost Story

For four aging men in the terror-stricken town of Milburn, New York, an act inadvertently carried out in their youth has come back to haunt them. Now they are about to learn what happens to those who believe they can bury the past - and get away with murder. Peter Straub's classic best seller is a work of "superb horror" (Washington Post Book World) that, like any good ghost story, stands the test of time - and conjures our darkest fears and nightmares.

Hell House

For over 20 years, Belasco House has stood empty. Regarded as the Mt. Everest of haunted houses, its shadowed walls have witnessed scenes of unimaginable horror and depravity. All previous attempts to probe its mysteries have ended in murder, suicide, or insanity.

But now, a new investigation has been launched, bringing four strangers to Belasco House in search of the ultimate secrets of life and death. A wealthy publisher, brooding over his impending death, has paid a physicist and two mediums to establish the facts of life after death once and for all. For one night, they will investigate the Belasco House and learn exactly why the townsfolk refer to it as the Hell House.

Ilium

From the towering heights of Olympos Mons on Mars, the mighty Zeus and his immortal family of gods, goddesses, and demigods look down upon a momentous battle, observing - and often influencing - the legendary exploits of Paris, Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, and the clashing armies of Greece and Troy. Thomas Hockenberry, former 21st-century professor and Iliad scholar, watches as well. It is Hockenberry's duty to observe and report on the Trojan War's progress to the so-called deities who saw fit to return him from the dead.

Breeds 2

Months after the war with Borland and his vicious were-brood, Kirk and Morris are experiencing curious after-effects. They're stronger, faster, and no longer vulnerable to the sharp sting of silver. There is one concern, however. They're forever hungry, and nothing they eat provides the same nourishment as what they consumed on the island of Newfoundland. And when a mysterious stranger rides into Moses Morris's territory wishing to hunt, the were-warden knows the visitor isn't after deer.

The Boylan House Trilogy

For nearly three and a half centuries, the Boylan House has stood at the end of Meeting House Road. And something in that house has been killing boys for centuries. The town of Monson is a quaint and quiet New England town. Yet the house is terrifying and has been for as long as anyone can remember. Adults put the thing out of mind and ignore the fears of their children, admonishing them to stay away.

Alien: Out of the Shadows: An Audible Original Drama

As a child, Chris Hooper dreamed of monsters. But in deep space, he found only darkness and isolation. Then, on planet LV178, he and his fellow miners discovered a storm-scoured, sand-blasted hell - and trimonite, the hardest material known to man. When a shuttle crashes into the mining ship Marion, the miners learn that there was more than trimonite deep in the caverns. There was evil, hibernating and waiting for suitable prey.

Snowblind

A stranger staggers out of the wilderness under the cover of a blizzard and stumbles into a diner full of people. He collapses in the entryway, unzips his jacket, and allows the object hidden inside to fall out. Screaming commences.

Publisher's Summary

Their captain's insane vision of a Northwest Passage has kept the crewmen of HMS Terror trapped in Arctic ice for two years without a thaw. But the real threat to their survival isn't the ever-shifting landscape of white, the provisions that have turned to poison, or the ship slowly buckling in the grip of the frozen ocean. The real threat is whatever is out in the frigid darkness, stalking their ship, snatching and brutally killing their fellow seamen.

Captain Crozier has taken over the expedition after the death of its original leader, Sir John Franklin. He draws equally on his strengths as a mariner and on the mystical beliefs of the Eskimo woman he's rescued as he sets a course on foot out of the Arctic and away from the insatiable beast. But every day the dwindling crew becomes more deranged and mutinous, until even Crozier begins to fear there may be no escape from an ever-more-inconceivable nightmare.

I have read several books by Dan Simmons - all of them great. When I saw "The Terror" at the bookstore, I immediately checked to see if it was available on Audible. It was, but I was disappointed to see that it was abridged. Nevertheless, I purchased it and thoroughly enjoyed Simon Vances reading of this intriguing fictional account of what happened to "The Terror" and her sister ship the "The Erebus". I gave four stars instead of five, only because it was abridged. I hope Audible provides more titles by Dan Simmons.

I've been listening to audiobooks for over 5 years, and this story is in my top 5.

This book is extremely well-written, with a narrative that moves you along like a good adventure story, but has elements of mythological tales, murder mystery, suspense drama, and historical fiction all worked in. The setting is fascinating - 1800's naval exploration of the NW Passage, and the characters are complex and interesting (though not all likable).

It's a dark tale, and doesn't necessarily all wrap up cleanly or as the reader would want, but it's nice to listen to a story that is not predictable.

I cannot say enough good things about the narrator. His style, cadence, characters, EVERYTHING is spot-on, and moves the story forward to where you more experience it than listen to it.

An intriguing & creative tale concerning a 19th Century historical mystery of a doomed arctic exploration. The narrator is superb & flows between British accents realistically & effortlessly. He varies his diction enough to maintain your interest. I was sorry when it ended.
Dan Simmons is a master of futuristic high tech science fiction, & his "Hyperion" series is without equal.
More Dan Simmons please!

One of my favorite books of the past few years (and I've never been a Simmons fan before, although I sure am now). A totally unique, compelling mix of historical fiction and horror, with some nautical adventure and shipboard life thrown into the pot for seasoning. Moves really fast, and the characters, events and even the scares are believable. I absolutely loved it --- give it a try, even if you don't usually like books in the historical fiction or horror genres. Simmons does such an amazing job creating a new, third genre out of the traditions of the other two, fans of NEITHER should love this book just as much as fans of either one (or both).

If you read the book which is over 700 pages, you get the actual depth and purpose of this wonderful book. It actually makes you feel the cold and relate to the extreme hardships these men went through. The decision to abridge this book was a huge mistake- as it is with all abridged books - The one bright spot in this audio book is the narrator- Simon Vance who is superb!!

This was a decent book. The narrator has talent and does a very good job. The story is well formed and the characters are interesting. It is definitely worth a credit. I didn't give it 5 stars because it is abridged. The process of abridgement serves one purpose, and that is to lessen the quality of the book.

I tried this audio based on the strength of the Hyperion series as well. It is engrossing, bleak, and well written. I give it three stars perhaps only because it creates an atmosphere of cold, dark hopelessness so well that it was almost oppressive at times. I recommend listening to this in July or August, in your car during an afternoon commute when it's 98 degrees...